Page 187 of The Bonding Games: Part 2

Cooper’s brows dip down low, and he drags a hand through his hair. “That’s true . . .”

My own face scrunches up as my brain works harder. “But then what if she wants a specific colour theme for an outfit one day?”

“Fuck’s sake.”

“She did wear light blue in our chambers the other day,” Alby points out quietly.

“Oh, that was so cute,” I gush at once at the memory, palms slapping over my skipping heart. Since her birthday, she’s had colours to wear that she never has before, and while she still evidently favours red, she’s also been trying out all of them, and I can tell she’s taken a liking to deep, dark purple. “She’s so perfect.”

Lips curving upwards, Scotty murmurs softly as he thinks of our Bonded too, “She is.”

“Fuckin’ love Havoc,” Tate grunts with his own input.

“Let’s get back on track,” Cooper says, all business-mode as he stares down the rings. “I really don’t want to get the wrong one here.” I think that came out a lot more vulnerable-sounding than he meant it to.

Eyes flicking over to him before following his gaze, Scotty tells him, “I’m half and half, but I really don’t think there is a wrong one.”

Alby nibbles anxiously on his lip. “What if her favourite colour changes one day?”

Tater Tot’s eyes slit. “Good point.”

“I’m really—”

I’m cut off as a ringtone blasts through the shop.

Scotty’s smile is bright enough to light up the entire planet, and I’m sure mine looks the exact same as he digs his phone from his trouser pocket—without the no-contact-with-family rule, we have our devices back, and it’s been really comforting to be able to talk to my parents again whenever. Nodding his head to a quieter area of Techtis’s best jewellery shop, Scotty heads in that direction, and we all race after him as he brings the phone to his ear. “Love?”

“Put her on speaker,” Tate hisses as we reach the corner.

Scotty does, moving the phone between us just as Ezzy’s voice of velvet and sin caresses my eardrums:

“I want my Bonds.”

Cooper smirks, and the frown lines have been zapped right from his forehead, eyes alight as he says, “We’ll be back soon, HC.”

“I want you now, and I want your minds back open. It does not feel right to call you like this.”

Softening in an instant, he doesn’t get the chance to respond before Tate shoves his face right up to the phone to speak directly into it. “Miss you, Havoc, baby. This is torture.”

“Then let me back in,” she demands. “I do not know why I agreed to this. I am already aware of what you are doing.”

“Yeah, but we can still make it more surprisey,” I insist enthusiastically.

“That is not a word,” Ez informs me, but I hear her sneaky little fondness slipping through her deadpan tone.

I blow a kiss at the phone even though she can’t see me. “Mwah! Love you, Ezzy!”

Her voice drops to nearly inaudible. “I love you too, Tiger.” Then I almost jump out of my skin as she barks, “So come back to me. You have made me love you, and now you all must deal with the consequences.”

Tate’s grin is ravenous, his insatiable appetite fired up in response to her possessiveness and clear need for us. “Gladly, Havoc.”

“Lay it all on us, Vengeance,” Cooper agrees, lips tilted again.

A growl comes through before she snaps, “Where is my shy boy?”

Eyes popping wide, Alby rushes out, “Right here!” His natural flush swallowing him whole already, he repeats more subtly, “Right here. Sorry.”

A glorious shudder rolls over me as she responds with something like a purring hum.